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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



This state of things ought not, cannot continue. 

 It must be clear to all, that any legislation that 

 confers special favors upon one to the detriment 

 of another, cannot promote the best interests of 

 society. It creates dissatisfaction with the laws, 

 encourages litigations and hatreds, and checks the 

 prosperity and happiness of the people of the 

 Commonwealth. The evil of which we have been 

 speaking, is not confined to the valley of the Con- 

 cord and Sudbury rivers alone — it is felt in near- 

 ly every portion^ of the State, as is made evident 

 from the sympathy and encouragement which has 

 been extended to the petitioners in this case from 

 almost every quarter. And while they do not 

 mean to desist now, or in the future, to seek a 

 lawful remedy for the grievous burdens they have 

 so long borne, and still continue to bear, they 

 have another object to pursue, which is as patri- 

 otic and honorable as it is just. This object is to 

 arouse the public attention to the injustice and 

 pernicious tendencies of some of our laws in re- 

 gard to the flowing of another person's land with- 

 out his consent, and to secure such legislation as 

 to restore natural rights which have been taken 

 away, and protect property from such aggressions 

 in the future. In this laudable object the peti. 

 tioners ask — and no doubt will receive — the 

 hearty co-operation of the whole agricultural 

 community. 



That laws of such an unjust and oppressive 

 character remain in force at this day shows the 

 forbearing and law-abiding character of our peo- 

 ple. For forty years they have diligently sought 

 a remedy in the Courts, and have been turned out 

 of them all, because, forsooth, somebody's great- 

 grandfather had a vested rigid to throw a dam 

 across the river and flow ten thousand acres of the 

 best lands in the State, at a time when a single 

 grist mill was worth a whole township of land. 

 Now that the circumstances are reversed, when 

 grist-mills are found on every stream, reached by 

 every road, and are driven by wind, steam and ca- 

 loric, all over the country, it is time that these 

 vested rights should yield to the public good. 



Through a long series of years there Avere two 

 things that would arouse the English people to 

 desperate resistance, more than anything else. 

 One of 1;hese was oppressive taxation, and the 

 other unjust and odious monopolies. These were 

 granted, more or less, through the reigns of Hen- 

 ry VIII., Elizabeth and James. One favorite had 

 the monopoly of selling all the salt, another all 

 the wines, and so of various articles. So it is in 

 Italy at this day. One family has the monopoly 

 of furnishing all the grey horses, another of the 

 article of tobacco, until so many articles were 

 farmed out to corrupt sycophants and favorites, 

 and l^e prices demanded for them Avere so extrav- 

 agant and oppressive, that these and other exac- 



tions became so intolerable in Italy as to cause 

 the bloody outbreak of 1848. 



We do not mean to intimate that any pecuniary 

 considerations accrue to the government in the 

 monopolies that exist in our State, under the 

 sanction of law — but only that they are relics of 

 an oppressive age, and that their influence up- 

 on the people has the same tendencies that they 

 had upon our trans-atlantic brethren. 



This great question is abeady before the people 

 of the State, in counti'y, town and legislature, and 

 Ave ask our friends to give it careful considera- 

 tion. 



For the Netc Ensland Farmer. 

 POTATO BLAST IN A CEBTAIKT CASE. 



Mr. BnoAVN : — In a late number "Farmer's Boy" 

 labors to prove the cause of decay upon my pota- 

 to vines a foAV days after the shower mentioned by 

 me in my statement of facts published in a previa 

 ous number of the Farmer. 



He says, "there Avas a predisposing cause, upon 

 Avhich the rain and sudden change of the atmos- 

 phere acted," and gives Avhat he supposes to be 

 that cause. Now if his theory is correct, I am un- 

 able to see Avhy the vines Avithin a few rods from 

 those first turning black, and only on eight or ten 

 feet higher ground, should remain green until the 

 middle of October, Avhen they Avcre killed by frost. 



In both locations the potatoes Avere taken from 

 the same basket of seed, and the manure Avas laid 

 from the same load ; therefore, if the seed Avas pre- 

 viously infected in one case, it must have been in 

 the other. While in the first mentioned location the 

 vines Avere nearly decayed and the potatoes badly 

 rotten, in the last the vines Avere green until late 

 in the fall, and the potatoes all sound, except in 

 some hills AA-here the grass was not all destroyed 

 by cultivation. 



Your correspondent has given but one cause, 

 Avhile many others acted thercAvith to bring about 

 the mentioned results, tAVO of Avhich I Avill men- 

 tion, location and soil. H. Bakber. 



Warwick, Dec. 19, 1859. 



Something Worth Knowing. — One day Avhile 

 purchasing a lot of dried fruit, Ave discovered small 

 pieces of sassafras bark mixed among it, and, up- 

 on inquiry, Avere informed that it Avas a preventive 

 against the Avorm. It is said that dried fruit put 

 away Avith a little bark, (say a large handful to 

 the bushel,) Avill save for years, unmolested by 

 those troublesome little insects, Avhich so often de- 

 stroy hundreds of bushels in a single season. The 

 remedy is cheap and simple, and Ave venture to say 

 a good one. — Lexington Flag. 



Bones for Fruit Trees. — There is nothing 

 like decaying bones for all sorts of fruit trees. 

 They ai'e perha])s best for pear trees, next for a])- 

 ples, and then for quinces ; but are good for any 

 kind of fruit unless it be cranberries, Avhich seem 

 to live and grow on little but air and Avater. If it 

 is not convenient to reduce the bones in sulphuric 

 acid, break them up small and place them about 

 the roots of the tree. 



